Updated Agetec Modification, aka “Green Goblin” Now with Pics
Hey, this question is more geared towards the stickbuilders here or those of you who have considered modifying the Dreamcast Agetec aracde stick. I have one, but the stick is really starting to go, and I think that a Ball top Sanwa replacement and buttons would do it a lot of good.
I was thinking…
PSone dual shock hack for encode…10 bucks
6 new Sanwas buttons…20 bucks shipped
Sanwa JLF ball top joystick…25 bucks
New paint on the plastic case and metal top…5 bucks
What do you guys think? Armadillo, with all your Namco mod work, do you think that mounting the stick would be easy, or require a lot of cutting and or routing. I dont have access to a router right now, so I’m think that modifying the mounting plate to fit on top on the plastic recess would be the best way to go. Any ideas guys.
Here are some very high quality pictures of the guts, buttons, and frame/shell etc.
Firstly it’s a myth that japanese controls ‘don’t work’ for marvel, they are just as good as US if not better (in theory they are better, in practice they are probably equally sufficent)
Secondly you can’t put US controls in an Agetec, so i don’t know why it was suggested in any case.
As for the mod, i’ll see if ssb will post his experience, his agetec has a sanwa stick, but i think the buttons are default agetec.
I’ve done the same type of mod but, to a Saturn Virtua Stick. I wish I had a DC Agetec stick to work with to make mounting the stick look cleaner (no protruding carriage bolts).
For paint on the plastic shell, use many light coats of Krylon Fushion for that semi-gloss plastic look. Clean it well first.
Mount the stick underneath the metal panel, into the plastic for that flush look. It will sit lower but, it’s the same as the Real Arcade Pro and my stick (I used spacers to lower the stick). See link…
On my custom stick, that’s not the Krylon chipping around the metal panel edges but, wax from waxing my painted panel.
Okay, so based off the pictures above I am going to want to mount the stick (a standard Sanwa in the plastic recess? There are pre-made holes (as you can see in the pcitures) already there so I’m wondering if they will line up with the new stick so I can mount it underneath. If not, would I mount it on top of the plastic recess then? Would I need to worry about the plastic cracking and will it be strong enough that way?
Also, for the buttons, I was thinking about keeping the originals, but will regular Sanwas work? The ones right now are clip-ins and I’ve seen both the screw down type and clip in Sanwas.
From the looks of your pics, the Sanwa is not a direct bolt in and you may want to use a Dremel. When mounting the stick into the plastic, you should use washers for extra strength. It should be plenty strong.
It’s up to you to choose between bottom and top mounting in the recess. I’d use bottom mounting to make it feel like a Real Arcade Pro (play on one and you’ll know why I feel so strong about this method),but mount it whatever feels best.
Okay, but the stick in my picture is not the one I want to put in there, I will be using a standard Sanwa (Like on Himuragames.com) and I am curious as to weather I can skip using the metal plate or if I should custom cut it and then mount it? Anyone know?
Which stick should I be looking for, they all look the same to me on the Sanwa site. I like octagonal plates and short throw and I am wondering if I can combine parts like the shaft from the old stikc in the new sanwa.
I already have, except Arm seems to be very secretive about his methods and the Catch 22 style. If anyones has the Cath 22 page saved, I would appreciate it if they could send me it or just give me some insight on his method, Arm’s page seems to be devoid of anything except top mounting on wood, which doesn’t apply here.
was gone for the weekend. I’ve got my Sega/Agetec partly appart and have thought of throwing in a Sanwa JLF in there but have not got around to investigating it. It would probably be easiest to do the 2 bolt method but maybe there will be a more elegant way. I did namco’s in two bolt and in the 3 screw. Maybe there’s a way to do the 4 screw method for the DC but I’ve not looked into it yet. The DC isn’t my most favorite stick because it feels a little hollow but we’ll see.
Cool, I appreciate your response and admire your work. I figure there is some potential there and since I already have the stick laying around in non-working condition, I figure it’s worth a shot.
This case is particularly tricky because if you mount the JLF in there it’ll seat fine with even 4 little bolts but the problem is that with this particular height the shaft will feel short because of he lip. I guess it won’t feel any different than the stock stick because the shafts are about the same height but I just didn’t feel comfortable about going through with the mod because of that lip that ofsets and lowers the body of the JLF joystick. The only other way is to get a plated JLF and to shave off the whole lip of that case and then drop 4 button cap machine screws from the top to hold the whole stick in place. This is a less elegant mounting because of the 4 screws though. At least button cap machine screws look really nice.
I too am intersted in this mod since my agetec is shot to hell. I have 2 astro citys and I’m pretty sure there are sanwas in there so I’m using parts of of there just for test purpouses.
One of the control panel is a blast city and I don’t think that stick will work with the agetec. I tried swapping springs but the spring is way smaller on the blast city.
I beleive this mod will be succesful. The parts for the stick are swappable. I have the shafts swithed and the microswith pcb, well the pcb from the sanwa fits into the agetec not vice versa. Also you would have to custom wire the connector but thats not a big issue. There are more lil parts on the stick that are swappable thus giving you a new stick so to speak. Even if the sanwa was to go in the case it would be a lot harder to mod.
The buttons are my concern.Sanwa regular will not fit without mod to the case but what about the start button. I am wondering if they would be about the same size. Also if you cut too much off rounding the holes to fit the standard it looks like you would need to some holes in the barrels for each button so the button could snap into place for a snug fit. Putting screw types would be too much hassle also. Plus the regulars fit through the barrel just not the top part where the button would have to enter that being the only part you would have to cut away.
I thought that regular sanwa buttons were exactly like the ones on the agetec, maybe arm can prove me wrong if i am, now I am actually very interested in this, maybe not something i would do right now but in about 6 months to a year, still tho, i like to plan these things. Armadillo can u please post a pic of the JLF?maybe next to the agetec stick or something. This is what people call J- stick right?
excuse my ignorance… :sad:
POST UPDATE!!!
Hey i was looking at sanwa’s joysticks and found this http://www.sanwa-d.co.jp/p_joy-stick.htm
The first and fourth joysticks don’t have the metal lips that arm was talking about and they are even cheaper (not by much but its something). Just thought u all would want to look at it.
One last thing! It seems to me that the guy who modded his namco stick used the JLF - TP - 8Y - SK because his joystick has a black shaft. I wuld very much liek to use that for my mods too :pleased:
I’m modding my Agetec as well, and I’m almost done…but I really don’t like the metal plate on top and I want to put on an artwork like
My thoughts is that this person went to Kinko’s and printed the artwork on some clean, laminated paper and some how glued it (adhesive maybe) to the stick…can anyone confirm this? If not, how the hell do you add artwork?
P.S. - THChardcore, are you done with your modification?
(not by much but its something). Just thought u all would want to look at it.
